The Darkness Within
by toonanimals317
Summary: Spoilers For Season 4 Episode 17 - Best Laid Plans (and all episodes prior!) Rumplestiltskin, along with the Author who recently joined forces with him, attempted to fill the Savior, Emma Swan's, heart with darkness. Her light blocked such an intrusion. He kills her, so Killian kills him without thinking about the consequences. Full summary inside!
1. Chapter 1

_Summary: __Spoilers For Season 4 Episode 17 - Best Laid Plans (and all episodes prior!)  
_

_Rumplestiltskin, along with the Author who recently joined forces with him, attempted to fill the Savior, Emma Swan's, heart with darkness. Her light (and her parents' trade off for the darkness to be put into Maleficent's child), blocked such an intrusion. To get his happy ending, along with the two remaining Queens of Darkness's (Maleficent and Cruella De Vil), he kills her, as she is what he believes stands in their way. In a fit of rage, Captain Hook kills Rumple with his own dagger before thinking about the consequences._

_Now that everyone's favorite pirate captain is the Dark One, he is able to revive his love, but is the cost of becoming the Dark One himself too great? How will things change now that he is the Dark One?_

**Chapter One**

Word was spreading that the Author had decided to team up with Rumplestiltskin, since he had been trapped by the good side, he wanted to cause a bit of mischief.

Emma Swan and Killian Jones, who was otherwise known as the notorious Captain Hook, were currently walking down the street heading towards Granny's diner for a quick bite to eat. Despite the impending danger of the Author helping Rumple and the Queens of Darkness turn Emma evil, the couple still needed to eat. They couldn't function on empty stomachs, after all.

Emma still hadn't fully made up with her parents, and after hearing Regina had known about this whole deal as well, Emma wasn't exactly on great terms with her either. Which meant, other than Henry and the currently bed-ridden August, her boyfriend was the only person she could turn to for aid and comfort.

Granted this wasn't a difficult task since she obviously enjoyed his company and he shared her feelings but still, she felt a wash of loneliness nonetheless. She had come to be used to the support of her parents, Snow White (Mary Margaret) and Prince Charming (David).

Currently, her arms were laced around his good one (the one without the hook for a hand), and her head was resting on his shoulder comfortably as they walked. He grinned down at her, his eyes filled with adoration for this beautiful woman. "Love, I know we need food, but shouldn't we be concerned about the fact that the Crocodile has got the Author to team up with him?" he questioned, his perfect, charming grin breaking just slightly.

Emma lifted her head off his shoulder and sighed lightly, "I suppose so." she didn't sound all that concerned, "But Killian, can we not worry about that right now?" she asked, and then chuckled lightly, "I'm starving."

He was about to nod in agreement, when he heard something behind them. Alarm bells immediately went off in his head and on instinct, and probably a bit of paranoia, he pulled Emma away from the street and into the nearest alleyway.

"Hey, what was-" Emma began but Killian put a finger to her lips and silenced her immediately. "Shh.." he sounded and looked over his shoulder. "Plan. Now." he whispered, his tone concerned. He felt it in the atmosphere. Something was up, and he knew by now Emma sensed it too from the way she was looking over his shoulder.

They wouldn't even have a chance to come up with a word of a plan again Mr. Gold and his gang because Killian's paranoia was definitely right this time. They had been spotted by the remaining two Queens of Darkness.

Rumple soon teleported himself into the alleyway, Cruella, Maleficent, and the Author sauntering in after him. "Looks like we've caught you, dearies." Rumple smirked cruelly and raised his hand upwards, ready to cast a spell and freeze the two.

Killian leapt forward to protect his Swan, but alas, he was too slow for Rumple's magic and was immediately pushed back into a nearby wall with a simple flick of the Dark One's wrist.

Emma could do nothing to stop him when he froze Killian in place. The pirate captain could still see and hear what was going on, as his eyes were the only mobile part of his body. He simply couldn't move a muscle from nose down, and therefore could not even open his mouth to yell.

The Author smirked, happy to be helping cause some mischief, and along with the two Queens changed his focus from Killian to Emma. Before she could raise her hands to defend herself with magic, Rumple had froze her as well.

Killian let out a silent scream of 'No!' in his head as Rumple began performing his magic, along with Maleficent and Cruella De Vil, on poor, frozen, Emma Swan.

The Author joined in the frightful sight last, raising up his magical quill and starting to write words in the air.

Maleficent and Cruella, after a nod from Rumple, disappeared to await the outcome and recieve their happy endings from the Savior with a darkened heart. It seemed they had done their part.

Killian's eyes flickered over to Emma, and their eyes met in a brief, urgent conveyance of the message 'I love you', something they both felt strongly in their hearts as the blue met the green.

Suddenly Rumple lowered his dagger and the Author stopped his scrawling. They both looked a bit dumbfounded. Befuddled, to say the least. "It didn't work?" the Author questioned, his tone extremely confused.

Despite still being a in a bit of a bad position, Killian's eyes glimmered with happiness. Victory. They hadn't been able to turn his love dark.

Rumple let out a hiss that caused the pirate captain's shining eyes to become worried rather than happy. "Of course it didn't!" the Dark One shouted, "You're the one who made her completely pure by forcing the Sorcerer's Apprentice to do Snow White and Prince Charming's bidding and cast all of the possible evil that she could've had into Maleficent's child! All of my plans are ruined. Ruined! It's all... your... fault."

The Author stared at him, noticing his cruel, twisted expressioned. "Wait... what are you doing?" he questioned nervously.

Rumple had raised his dagger, and all Killian and Emma could to was stare in awe at the scene playing out before them. "No! Wait! NOOO!" The Author yelled as he was pushed backwards and disappeared completely, probably sealed once more in his prison within the page.

Rumplestiltskin wasn't done yet, oh no. He was just getting started, and he was beyond furious. He turned towards Emma, and pressed the dagger against her neck. "I'm going to end your life, little savior." he snarled, and then moved his dagger down. Emma's eyes widened to the size of saucers and Rumple thrust it into Emma's chest, a quick, instant death.

That was the last thing Killian saw before he saw red. The freezing spell immediately was taken off her and she slumped like a rag doll to the ground, her green eyes staring up towards the sky, blood flowing freely through the wound in her chest.

Rumple looked down at his blood-soaked dagger with a smirk. The deed was done. The savior was dead.

"SWAN!" Killian yelled, breaking free of the freezing spell out of pure fury and sadness.

"You... how did you-?" Rumple looked at him wide eyed. No, that freezing spell should've still been in place! Had he been careless after killing the Savior? How could the pirate possibly have broken free?!

"How... dare... you!" Killian Jones seethed, his blue eyes ablaze as he pounced from where he stood, tackling and pinning the Dark One against a nearby wall. Soon enough, his hook was pierced through the other man's shoulder.

Rumple let out a gasp of pain and his grasp on the magical dagger lessened, his eyes going a bit wide. Now this he wasn't expecting. Raising his hand to push the pirate back with a burst of magic, it turned out he was too slow this time.

The pirate ripped the dagger from Rumple's hands, his fury hindering his conscious thoughts. He didn't think of the consequences. He was more enraged than he had ever been before. Even more enraged than when Rumple had killed Milah. This was the second time his love had been killed by this Crocodile. Enough was enough.

Teeth bared, he glared at the Crocodile he had hated for so many years. "You killed my love!" he snarled. This had been his true love. He loved Emma Swan more than anything. Even more than his beloved ship. He loved her more than the open ocean. She was his world, and this man had crushed it.

Rumple, despite himself, looked a bit frightened. He may still have had his magic, but he couldn't use it on Killian at the moment. Killian held the dagger. He was useless and couldn't do anything to save himself. He wiggled slightly, trying to get free of the man pressing him so roughly against the wall, but that only brought on another wave of pain from where Killian's hook was drilled into his shoulder.

With a mighty roar that could put a dragon to shame, Killian pulled Rumple towards him and then slammed him against the wall, jarring the older man quite a bit. All Gold could do was stare. He opened his mouth to speak but it was slick with blood, and some dribbled out of his mouth.

'Damn pirate must've slammed me against the wall harder than I first realized, must've cracked something...' Rumple thought to himself, and he gulped slightly, but the fear of choking on his own blood stopped him mid gulp and he took a deep breath instead.

He was petrified. He didn't want to die that was something he had always feared. He should've known he'd die a coward. It was how he had lived. He should've also known that this would be the man that would deal him the card of death. They had despised each other for so very long, and the captain had threatened to kill him many times over despite the consequences of becoming the Dark One himself.

He knew Captain Hook had lusted for this moment for so, so long. Killian had promised he would give up his vengance and try to be a better person, for Swan. But that had all changed when she was murdered in front of him by the crocodile himself. Feeling the blood drip down from the dagger and onto his hand, his love's blood, Killian snapped even further than he already had. He was back to being Captain Hook, an even worse, more demented version of himself, at least for now.

"You'll never hurt another person I love, or anyone for that matter." he hissed, his voice merely a dark, cold whisper. Without another thought, the pirate captain brought the magical dagger down into his long time nemesis's chest, driving it straight into the other man's heart.

He pulled out the dagger and stepped back, the Dark One's body crumbling to the ground before him, before quite literally turning into dust. Killian breathed heavily, his hand holding the dagger shaking as he realized what he had done.

Immense pain shot through him, but it most certainly wasn't as bad as the pain in his chest, filling his heart as he grieved for his Swan. Magic came up from the dust that had once been Rumplestiltskin and flowed into his body. It went into his veins and coursed through him like blood.

A shout came from him and he clutched at his stomach with his hook, causing a light graze against his vest. Tears appeared at the corners of his eyes and soon they were coming down like waterfalls. "Swan!" he cried out sadly, and still in pain, crawled over to her corpse.

"Swan!" he called again, mercilessly shaking her dead body, a hard task to do seeing as how heavy she now was, and the fact he was only using one hand. The dagger was still clutched in it as well, making the task all the more hard. His tears dripped down from his face as he laid her back down. They hit the still warm skin of her neck and face.

"I can't loose you... Swan... please..." he cried, and kissed her forehead, a small attempt to bring his love back to him. He brought up the dagger, it was still dripping with fresh blood. He watched as the name 'Rumplestiltskin' washed away, and was slowly replaced, in scrawly yet beautiful looking text, by two words. 'Killian Jones' which was partially covered by the thick blood of both his love and her murderer.

A last jolt of pain went through him and sobs wracked his body as he dropped the dagger down next to him, and hugged Emma's body close to him, his hand coming up and closing her dull green eyes. He didn't mind the blood smearing and staining his clothing.

"Please, Emma. Love... come back to me. We need you. I need you." he confessed, "I love you..." his voice was muffled by her skin as he had his face pressed into her neck, breathing in her scent for what he thought would be the last time.

Little did he know, golden sparks were flying off of his finger tips, sealing up the horrible wound in her chest and breathing life back into her body.

He felt her gasp against him and he immediately held her at arm's length rather then right against him, his blue eyes wide and anxious as he stared at her.

She had a coughing fit, her unnaturally dead looking green eyes becoming bright and filled with life once more before his eyes. "Killian?" she questioned between coughs. "What happened? You're covered in blood... where's Gold?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Uhm... he disappeared, love." Killian said slowly, and let go of her, scooting backwards. He tilted his head a bit.

"Disappeared?" Emma's eyebrows knit together and she looked at him hard, something was wrong but... she herself felt weird and kind of dizzy. "Why are you covered in blood..." she murmured.

"It's not mine." Killian said truthfully, "I sort of cut the Crocodile's arm." it was amazing how easily the lie slipped from his lips.

She squinted, sensing that wasn't the full truth, "That sure is a lot of blood for just a cut...?"

"It was deep." he stated, "Anyways, Swan... how are you feeling?" he asked.

"I feel fine..." she murmured, "A bit dizzy I guess." she glanced at him curiously, and looked around and noticed the dagger on the ground, "Isn't that Rumplestiltskin's dagger?" she asked, and went to reach for it.

Killian's eyes went wide and he grabbed it, "Swan if you feel dizzy I don't want you handling such a dangerous object." he stated. That, and he was worried she'd notice the name on it.

Emma rolled her eyes and pushed herself to her feet, "I'm fine, Killian." she murmured, and held out her hand, "With the dagger we can- wait." she looked closer at the dagger, "Thats a lot of blood... you cut him with his own dagger?" her eyes widened, "Way to go!" she congratulated him, and offered him a grin.

Killian slowly, slowly grinned back and held the dagger behind his back as he worked some magic on it, glamouring it to once more say Rumplestiltskin's name. He was surprised he knew how to do that... surprised he knew how to do any magic at all, but it seemed that becoming the Dark One had not only given him power beyond belief, but unmatched wisdom of magic. No wonder Rumple had always known just what spell to use... the knowledge had been stuffed into his brain just as quickly as the magic had become a part of him.

He watched Emma's eyes as they flicked towards his arm, "Why did you put the dagger behind your back?" she questioned.

"Oh. Just good form and posture, Swan." his other arm had gone behind his back as well.

"Right..." she murmured, and then held out her hand again, "Hand me the dagger and let me call Rumplestiltskin back. We have the dagger we can use it against him and end this once and for all." she told him.

Killian felt pain flood through him and shook his head roughly, "We're in no state to deal with the Crocodile. Lets just go get dinner yeah?"

Emma frowned at him. "We're not going into Granny's with you looking like that."

"Like... what...?" Killian questioned slowly, seemingly confused. "You're not exactly in a good state either love." he frowned, he wished he could seal up the blood soaked hole in her shirt without her noticing.

"Huh?" Emma sounded, and looked down, "Oh... my." her eyes widened, "When did this happen?" she questioned.

"The Crocodile stabbed you. I forced him to heal you before stabbing him." Killian explained. Well, it wasn't a full lie. The Crocodile hadn't healed her but he had stabbed her and well, he had stabbed him.

"Oh." Emma said, her tone sounding concerned, "Is that why I passed out..?" she asked.

"Indeed, love." Killian nodded, "Lets go home, change clothes and though get dinner. I'm sure you're still hungry, I know I am." he said, 'That will also give me time to put this dagger somewhere safe that I can retrieve it later.' he thought to himself, and gave her a grin.

She smiled back and took his arm in a nice way, before stealing the dagger from his hand. "Aha! Got it!" she cheered with a playful grin.

Killian flinched and stared at her, "Swan..." he said his tone nervous.

She laughed lightly, "You act like you're scared of it or something. Don't be so uptight!" she handed it back to him, "Here you go. Take it back. We should head to the apartment and change clothes. Freshen up a bit before heading to dinner. You can use some of the clothes I let you keep in my closet."

Killian took it graciously. "We need to find a safe place for it, though." she said to him, "And since your clothes are already smeared with blood could you please clean the dagger off?"

He sighed lightly and cleaned the dagger with his sleeve. 'My sentiments exactly about finding a safe place for the dagger...' he thought to himself.

He was soon following her through the streets, heading back to the apartment to change clothing and such.

"Killian hold on." Emma said and halted, and looked back at him.

He stopped as well, "What is it Swan?" he questioned her.

She got close to him and looked into his eyes, "I thought maybe it was just the weird lighting in the alley or something but I wanted to check and sure enough it's still there."

He looked at her confused, a frown crossing his mouth, "What is still there?" he asked her.

"Around your pupils... there's a thick ring of gold." she informed him.

He blinked, "What?"

"And your eyeliner seems thicker too, but maybe you just smeared it." she frowned, "But that gold's weird and unnatural."

Killian's eyes flickered nervously, "Let's get home so I can see for myself."

They went up into the apartment, and were happy to see that Emma's parents were not home at the time, and neither was Henry.

They went upstairs into Emma's room and she immediately opened the closet doors.

"Grab some clothes, Killian, then go into the bathroom to change." she instructed, and sat back against the bed waiting for him to leave so she could change her shirt.

He walked to her closet and flipped through some of her clothes to get to the few shirts, vests, jackets, and pants he had hidden there. Right now all he needed was a change of shirt and vest (thank goodness no blood damage had come to one of his beloved leather jackets) so he grabbed a white shirt and a dark gray vest, along with the belt he knew had his sword holster, something he hadn't used in awhile but still had one here and back in his own apartment.

He gave her a grin and a nod and walked out of the room, slipping into the bathroom and shutting the door behind himself. He set the dagger on the counter next to the sink and pressed his hands against it, peering into the mirror.

It would seem Swan had been right, but the gold rim around his eyes was not the only thing that has changed about them.

They were unnaturally vibrant blue, almost glowing. The gold was pulsating, swirling around his pupils in such a... magical way. In all honesty these changes gave him a fright, but with one glance down at the dagger he knew.

He gulped lightly, he had known it had happened, he had known what he had become but seeing his now unnatural eyes was just the proof he needed to truly spark something within him. He was the Dark One. He had unmatched power... and yet he was terribly frightened.

No, he hadn't wanted this. He didn't want to become the exact thing he had despised so deeply and yet here he was. "At least I'm still devilishly handsome..." he murmured under his breath, and then took off his jacket and vest and then bloodied shirt, and changed clothing. He pulled the jacket back on and undid his belt, replacing it with the one that had the sword holster.

Using magic he transformed the holster into one that was shorter and could carry the dagger. He picked it up, the Dark One's dagger, still glamoured to say the name of the Crocodile rather than himself, and slid it into place.

With a loud sigh he bundled up his vest and shirt and belt and carried them out, before knocking on Emma's bedroom door.

She opened it, revealing that she was now wearing a gray long sleeved v-neck tee. "Ready then? You can just leave the clothes here I'll wash them for you."

Killian gave her a smile and put them on the bed, "Thanks, love." he said to her.

"Anytime." she replied, and then motioned for him to follow and lead them out the door of her room and back downstairs. He opened the apartment door and held it open for her, a grin flashing over his face.

"So where'd you put the dagger for now?" she asked, looking a bit confused.

"I put it in the holster on my belt, Swan." he replied.

Her eyebrows knit together, "I thought that was a sword holster... ah well I guess I was wrong." she chuckled lightly and shook her head, "So anyways I found a scar from the stab wound." she told him.

"Oh?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm surprised I survived it looked bad." she frowned a bit, "I'm glad I did though..."

"Me too love, me too." he told her.


End file.
